Exceptional performances from Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall save The Judge from its dishevelled tone, with director David Dobkins first foray into drama an uneven yet wholly engaging affair.

In this era of titans clashing on screen, The Judge presents what would happen if Tony Stark collided with The Great Santini, an interesting blend of style and talent that for the most part does not disappoint.

It’s just a shame that this pairing of Robert’s Downey Jr. and Duvall didn’t happen in a better movie, for while The Judge is an engrossing watch, it’s many flaws knock it down from potential Oscar contender to good but not great yarn about crime and family in America’s heartland.

The big flaw in The Judge is the direction by David Dobkin. A filmmaker who has made his name with comedies such as The Wedding Crashes and The Change-Up, Dobkin’s first foray into drama is an intriguing mess, with The Judge intent on saying a lot of things but not quite sure how to do so.

Acid tongued comedy, sentimental family dramatics, and courtroom thriller conventions sit awkwardly with one another creating a peculiar yet entertaining near train-wreck of a movie that stays on track thank to its lead players.

Downey Jr. stars as Hank Palmer, a successful defence attorney of little scruples who returns to his long shunned Indiana hometown when his mother passes away. There his estranged relationship with stubborn father Judge Joseph Palmer (Robert Duvall) is put to the ultimate test when Joseph is accused of murder and Hank feels compelled to defend him, bringing the painful truth of their combative relationship to the fore.

There is no doubt that Downey Jr. targeted The Judge as producer and star with aspiration of Oscar potential. Yet while the movie itself is nowhere near good enough, a strong case can be made for Downey Jr’s incredibly good performance, with the onetime box office poison turned box office king more than able to flow with the changing tides of Dobkin’s bipolar direction (based on Nick Sheck and Bill Dobuque’s screenplay), keeping his performance on a steady course amidst stormy genre seas.

Even more important is the title role, portrayed by the eternal Robert Duvall with the stubborn bullheadedness seen in many of his characters (The Great Santini, Get Low) yet made wholly sympathetic due to the sensitive, fragile touches Duvall gives his character who may be a bastard, but an honourable, respected bastard never the less.

Both Downey Jr. and Duvall know there shticks (the former hyper verbal delivery of dialogue, the later well delivered put-down followed by chuckle) and they are not shy in using them. Yet they also tap into some rather deep wells to bring an emotional resonance to their father and son relationship that demands and get your attention and sympathies.

Despite a dramatic confrontation set amongst a tornado (a little too much visual symbolism there), despite the distracting presence of a character with mental illness who does nothing more than play 8mm movies that mysteriously cue Peter Gabriel on the soundtrack, and despite its exorbitant running time, Downey Jr. and Duvall make The Judge an absorbing watch. With a different director, it could have been an exceptional one.